The problem has been going on for years.

Drug addicts are arrested, filling jails at a great cost to taxpayers, and are released only to return to their old habits and be thrown in jail again. The addicts get no help with what is a life-crushing problem, and drug-related crime never slows.

In Lauderdale County, there will soon be another way. Thanks to the efforts of County and Youth Judge Veldore Young, Lauderdale County will soon have a drug court — a court designed to rehabilitate rather than incarcerate drug addicts who have pled guilty to non-violent crimes.

This court, which Young said may be operating as early as April, will be completely funded by the State of Mississippi. Though Lauderdale County will have to make money available for the court, that money will be fully reimbursed by the state every 30 days.

The state has agreed to pay for the court, Young said, because drug courts across the country have been proven to work.

The courts, she said, have been shown to reduce recidivism rates, reduce crime, reduce the number of prisoners, and increase rehabilitation rates. Drug courts can not only relieve society of the problems of drug addiction, it can save the lives of the addicts themselves.

"The success rates of drug courts are very high," Young said, adding, "It's not going to cost Lauderdale County one penny."

Drug courts work like this: When an addict pleads guilty in circuit court on drug charges or to a non-violent crime that is deemed to be a direct result of their drug addiction, a judge can choose not to sentence them and instead send them to the drug court. There, rather than going to prison, they enter a strict and intensely supervised rehabilitation program.

Addicts must undergo frequent drug testing and report to the court at least once a week. The court will put them in either inpatient rehabilitation or outpatient counseling, and will assist addicts in finding a job. Addicts who do not have a high school education will be required to get a GED, and all addicts will be required to attend Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous meetings regularly.

Those who do not complete the program will be sentenced for their original circuit court charges. Those who do complete the program will have their records cleared of the original charges.

Young said job placement assistance is a key aspect of the drug court. "It's our job as a drug court to try to make them whole" contributing members of society, she said.

Young will run the drug court while continuing to serve as a county and youth court judge. Her father, State Rep. Charles Young, Sr. (D-Meridian), will provide rent-free space for the court.

"That's how important it is for us," she said. "I won't make any money off of this."

Young said the court will probably start with first time offenders, and said she hopes to bring in a juvenile drug court within eight months of opening the adult court.

"Drug court is designed to help addicts," she said. "We tend to sentence them and think the punishment should just be punitive in nature ... but we need to rehabilitate them in my opinion."